Policies - Immigration 2010 General Election Manifesto

“Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.” Exodus 22:21

Love for one’s neighbour, hospitality and compassion for the alien in the land are central tenets of the Christian faith and as such cannot be disregarded when formulating policy on immigration. However, a cohesive and sustainable immigration policy is necessary given the fact that there are finite resources available for the well-being of all within our borders.

Unwise stewardship of our limited resources will lead to understandable
resentment amongst British nationals. Such feeling have legitimacy and must not
be ignored. In formulating immigration policy, however, a clear distinction must be
made between economic migrants, illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.

Economic Migration

A recent study by the Institute for Public Policy Research suggests that claims
that migrants “take our jobs” and “cut our pay” are misplaced and wrong.  Indeed, the Christian Party believes that economic migrants who reduce the skills
deficit in the United Kingdom should be welcomed and encouraged. Our economy
cannot grow successfully without the requisite skilled labour necessary to do
so. The immigration points system that has been introduced by the Labour
Government should go a long way in making sure that economic migrants add
to the national skill set. The Christian Party therefore supports the immigration
points system in principle.

The Christian Party also welcomes the introduction of the Borders, Citizenship
and Immigration Act (2009) ; particularly in relation to the powers granted to the
newly formed United Kingdom Border Agency and the new ‘path to citizenship’,
which has been facilitated by amending the provisions of the British Nationality
Act 1981 relating to naturalisation as a British citizen.

However, the Labour Government has failed to address the fact that the
immigration points system does not apply to economic migrants from the
European Union (EU), which is the largest source of economic migration into the
United Kingdom. As the EU expands the problem of immigration from other EU
member states will only grow worse. The Government’s failure to address
the problem of unrestricted immigration from Europe has totally undermined
United Kingdom immigration policy. This needs to be rectified as a matter of
urgency either through a swift negotiated agreement with the EU, or a unilateral
change in immigration policy.

In addition to existing conditions applied to economic migrants the Christian Party
would make it a condition of entry that economic migrants must actually be taking
up employment that has already been secured. It would also be a requirement
that private medical insurance would be in place with a reputable British insurer
and that accommodation has also been found from within the private sector prior
to entry. These provisions would reduce the pressure on the public provision of
healthcare and housing that is often associated with immigration.

In the event that an economic migrant is convicted of an imprisonable offence, he
or she will have their visa rescinded and will be deported to their country of origin.

Illegal Immigrants

There are an estimated 618,000 illegal immigrants in Britain, more than two
thirds (442,000) of which live in London. Two options exist, either regularize their
immigration status or deport them.

A recent study by the London School of Economics suggests that regularization
could boost the United Kingdom’s gross domestic product by £3 billion a year.
In stark contrast, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has reported that
it will be at least another four years before the Home Office’s United Kingdom
Border Agency reaches its “optimum capacity” to remove failed asylum seekers.
Indeed, the Home Office was only able to action 12,000 removals of failed asylum
seekers during 2008 and has a backlog of cases in excess of 400,000, which are
not expected to be dealt with before 2011.

With these findings in mind the Christian Party takes a pragmatic approach.
Energy which could otherwise be spent on dealing with the gross inadequacy of
past immigration policy is better spent on preventing future abuses.

The best way to deal with the current problem of illegal immigrants is a
partial-amnesty for illegal immigrants and their accomplices. Such amnesty
would only be given to those who have in all other aspects of their life, apart from
employment, lived within the law in the United Kingdom for at least seven years.

Under the partial amnesty, illegal immigrants would not become British citizens,
but would have the status of economic migrants (see section above). These
measures would provide the best foundation for curtailing the inflow of illegal
immigrants in the future.

Asylum Seekers:

The United Kingdom’s moral obligation to genuine asylum seekers cannot
and must not be denied. The Christian Party supports full application the 1951
Convention on Refugees, including the clause on refugees having to accept
asylum in the first safe country they reach. In keeping with the 1951 Convention
it is clear that applications for asylum should only be considered at a British port
or airport where the applicant has arrived directly from the country from which
asylum is being sought; or else at the British embassy or consulate in that country.
In the event that an asylum seeker applies for asylum having come through a safe
country he or she should be immediately returned to that safe country.

The Christian Party recognises, however, that a country that is contiguous to a
country that is either at war or has such an oppressive regime that it gives rise
to many genuine refugees and asylum seekers cannot bear the full brunt of the
resultant humanitarian need on its own. The Christian Party therefore supports
the concept of receiving refugees and asylum seekers based on international
agreement in such circumstances.

The current backlog of 400,000 - 450,000 asylum applications to the United
Kingdom government clearly shows systemic problems in processing such
applications. The Christian Party agrees with Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the
Public Accounts Committee, who said: “The process of coming to decisions on
whether to grant asylum is still too slow.” The decision making process must be
overhauled and streamlined in order to achieve greater efficiency and speed. This
is needful for both humanitarian reasons (uncertainty is stressful and all the more
so for those who have genuinely fled for their lives), and practical reasons.

Housing asylum seekers must not be at the expense of housing stock earmarked
for the host population. The Christian Party continues to favour the type of
asylum seeker hosting regime pioneered by the charity Praxis in the East End of
London. Under this scheme, asylum seekers are hosted by local families who are
paid to both provide lodgings and to integrate the asylum seeker(s) into the local
community. The scheme has many benefits including fostering community
cohesion and avoiding the creation of ‘asylum seeker ghettoes’. Local families
that sign up for the scheme could even be re-housed in larger accommodation in
order to facilitate hosting.

Christian Party Members of Parliament will:

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